A three-year collaboration between Ablynx NV and Merck & Co. Inc in immuno-oncology has been extended by one year in order to enable the parties to investigate up to 12 new molecules targeting individual protein targets and combinations of targets that could potentially treat cancer, Ablynx announced the new agreement on 22 July.
A new vaccine designed to protect young children in sub-Saharan Africa from infection from thePlasmodium falciparum parasite has been given a positive opinion by the European Medicines Agency even as its effectiveness was described as modest.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd has raised £70 million through a private placement of shares with new and existing investors in the UK, US and continental Europe to support development of the company’s electronic molecular analysis systems.
Roche has confirmed its forecast for a modest growth in sales this year with core earnings per share advancing ahead of sales. In the first half, the increase in sales was restrained by a strengthening of the Swiss franc against the euro.
Shire Plc posted a 3.7% gain in revenue to $1.56 billion in the second 2015 quarter but hefty impairment charges brought a 60.8% decline in operating income to $132.6 million.
Despite reporting weaker revenue and a decline in operating profit for the second quarter, Novartis has maintained its forecast for growth for the year as a whole, on the strength of an improved performance of its Sandoz generics subsidiary.
Five months after appointing a new chief executive, Sanofi SA has announced a major reorganisation of its global business that highlights the company’s portfolio of medicines for rare diseases, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Immunocore Ltd of Oxford UK has raised $320 million (£205 million) in a private financing round to support development of its pipeline of bispecific biologic drugs for the treatment of cancer and viral infections.
Proposed legislation that would increase funding for US biomedical research and promote personalised medicine passed the House of Representatives on 10 July and was sent to the Senate for debate.
Following a request from Denmark, the European Medicines Agency has begun a review of the safety of the human papillomavirus vaccines Gardasil and Cervarix to find out whether or not reports of two rare adverse events are linked to the vaccines.